Josh Johnson changes lanes with the élan of a casino dealer shuffling cards. A saxophonist and a synthesist mentored by Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, Johnson’s pop candy associations include Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus; he also spent four years as musical director for Leon Bridges. His lead production credits are spangled with such idiosyncratic gems as Flea’s Honora and Meshell Ndegocello’s Grammy-winning The Omnichord Real Book. He’s currently blowing his horns and concocting conceptual loops and effects as a working member in a variety of versatile, cutting-edge ensembles in both L.A. and Chicago.
Animative, Johnson’s third album after his 2020 debut and his purely solo record Unusual Object in 2024, is, like his career, a stylistically…
Tag Archive: Josh Johnson
Guitarist Nate Mercereau, saxophonist Josh Johnson, and percussionist Carlos Niño have joined up as The Openness Trio for their Blue Note debut. All are producers and skilled in effects and electronics. Both Mercereau and Niño have toured with Andre 3000. Johnson is known for his work with Jeff Parker and as a producer for Meshell Ndegeocello. Those brief capsules should give you an insight into the dreamy, hazy, electronically fused ambient jazz they create together on this album of five tracks, recorded in 2021, both indoors and outdoors in the Los Angeles and Ventura County areas. Head-spinning in a relaxed, soothing, but oft-disorienting way is a description, although that doesn’t quite do it justice. It sounds fully improvised through focused…